Green Hills is a fantasy series by Celyn Kendrick set in rural Wales. It begins as Magic Realism Slice of Life and develops into Supernatural Fiction with Paranormal Romance.
There are seven books:
- Green Hills and Daffodils
- Green Hills and Dragon Tales
- Green Hills and Fairy Bells
- Green Hills and Holy Wells
- Green Hills and Battlefields
- Green Hills and Whippoorwills
- Green Hills and Prison Cells
Green Hills provides examples of:
- Arranged Marriage: Efa and Maelog were forced to marry by their families.
- Aura Vision: Deirdre sees auras around some people, especially Callum.
- The Beard: Maelog's marriage to Efa serves to hide his relationship with Alan.
- Bilingual Bonus: There's quite a bit of untranslated Welsh.
- Blind Seer: Efa has accurate premonitions even before she loses her eyes.
- Born-Again Immortality: The dragons have human incarnations that are reborn over and over, although they don't get their Past-Life Memories right away.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Stewart says "Maelog", not "my tad".
- Call to Agriculture: Jane, Rhys and Elin all wanted to become sheep farmers.
- Canine Companion: Jane is accompanied by her sheepdog, Moss.
- Circle of Standing Stones: There's one in the woods between Stewart's and Rhys' homes. Don't try to photograph it.
- Close-Knit Community: The people of Llwyncudd know a great deal about each other's lives.
- Easily-Overheard Conversation: The town pub has acoustics that make it easy to hear conversations that were supposed to be private.
- Entendre Failure: Stewart doesn't always understand Jane's innuendos.
- Everyone Is Related: Most of the people of Llwyncudd are related to each other.Ben: There's a family resemblance between you, me, and everyone else native to Llwyncudd.
- Eye Scream: Efa loses her eyes to thorns while running through the woods at night.
- Foreign Queasine: Stewart is very suspicious of Jane's peanut butter sandwiches.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Stewart learns that Robert was probably his father. This is not a shock, because he's an improvement on Maelog.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Ben and Jane complain about this in-story.
- Naïve Newcomer: The story introduces Llwyncudd through the eyes of Jane, a foreigner who knows little about the town, people or sheep.
- Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Gwyn is punk in both appearance and attitude — but she's a professor, and people who know her call her "the Doctor".Gwyn: I tend to freak out the clergy.Father Aron couldn't find fault with the statement as he took in the pink and purple hair, all the barbed wire in her face, and the tattoo on her hand. Her jacket even had a pot leaf drawn on the sleeve, and an anarchy symbol on the back, surrounded by the words Exist to Resist.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Jane has no filter between brain and mouth. She has a history of saying the wrong thing, and is afraid she'll do it again.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Two of the protagonists are dragons as old as creation.Stewart could imagine the water serpent clearly. It had delicate and equine features, with a long straight nose and proud ears. With a mane of cinnamon, it had green eyes and soft silky velvet skin that was pearlescent like moonlight.The wings were not thick and leathery at all but an impossibly thin gossamer webbing that would flutter and catch the light. They were opalescent and vaguely reminded him of morning dewdrops vibrating on a spiderweb. The neck was long and arched delicately, with a sinuousness that could be either sensual or deadly.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Michael is routinely embarrassed by his parents' rather public sexuality.
- Reincarnation Romance: The dragons are reincarnated as humans over and over, but the world often keeps them apart.
- Right Through the Wall: Cwm Cudd has very thin walls, so Rhys overhears a lot from Jane, often leading to Imagined Innuendo.
- Shirtless Scene: Jane can't resist staring when she sees Rhys topless.
- Side Bet: Some of the people of Llwyncudd have a public betting pool on the love lives of others.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Michael has green eyes and red hair and is a dragon.
- Sizeshifter: The white dragon changes its size to fit in a small cave.
- Somber Backstory Revelation: Stewart learns that his family history contains much more murder and forced marriage than he thought.
- Stutter Stop: Stewart stutters when speaking English, but not when speaking Welsh or singing.
- Technicolor Eyes: Stewart has unusual silver eyes.
- Timmy in a Well: When Jane is trapped by the standing stones, Moss goes to get help. Afterward, Jane recognizes this by name:Jane: Moss was doing a Timmy fell in a well dance?Rhys: Aye, exactly like that. Wouldna shut up until I followed him.
- Urine Trouble: Moss introduces himself to Rhys by peeing on his boot.
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: Time goes much slower for Jane when she's trapped by the Circle of Standing Stones.Jane: I swear I was only in there for not even 5 minutes!Rhys: Aye, well, ye don't stop for even 5 minutes to have afternoon tea with the local tylwyth teg, or pretty soon yer comin' back years later with a few screws loose!
